...

After a few more exchanges, Shin finally started showing some signs of weakening. His concentration was starting to slip for the extended usage of his 'Eclipse Wielding', 'Elemental Spirit Possession' and 'White Dawn Boundary'.

It was good that he was still inside the game – because if not, his body would surely collapse due to the burden of the extended usage of the 'White Dawn Boundary' breathing technique. And since his willpower was quite strong, so using this technique didn't put much harm on his mind. Though, he might show some drawbacks in the future if he kept on doing this.

Due to this, his movements were slowing down while his attacks were starting to lose some of their power. It was clear that he was starting to weaken as the battle progressed.

Fortunately, he was not the only one who was reaching his limits. It was also clear that Demon was suffering the same problem as him. Even though he was only using his Combat Techniques most of the time, he was still using all of them much more frequently than Shin.

Moreover, Shin was quite cautious at using his set of cards from his arsenal. Even though he was using three of his trump cards simultaneously, he was still making sure that his opponent would counter his attacks at least twice the amount of the concentration that he had spent.

But as the battle progressed, Shin realized that Demon actually had strong willpower too. It was normal for an 'Ethereal Opening Stage' Martial-Artist to have a much stronger willpower than a 'Core Formation Stage' Expert. Though, Shin managed to bridged that gap with his monstrously high willpower given by his bloodline.

But Demon's willpower was in a similar case. Even though Demon didn't have a willpower that could overwhelm a Martial-Artist of the same level of martial-arts, the quality and quantity of his willpower was much greater than the ordinary guys. In fact, it might be slightly lower than Shin's.

Due to this, the advantage that Shin had built up earlier was not slowly disappearing as the time went by. And because of this, the match became the battle of attrition for both sides; whoever exhausted their willpower first, would surely lose this battle.

And naturally, these kinds of small changes were able to notice by most of the peak experts watching this match.

...

Inside Arthur's VIP room, the Godlike Players were currently discussing the current development of the match.

"So, he is already at his limit, huh? This match is starting to get boring if that was the case," said Zeus while looking at Shin who was clearly having a hard time on this match.

Hearing that, Poseidon who was currently sitting beside him suddenly sneered. "Heh! But the other side is also starting to lose focus. I am pretty sure that he is also about to reach his limit."

Zorldryck raised one of his eyebrows before commenting. "But before it happens, that swordsman will surely exhaust his willpower first before that spear-wielding demon loses his."

"You will never know the result of the match until it is over. So, don't talk way too early," said by the giant-like guy named Theio.

With that, the VIP room started to become rowdy due to the different comments of the other Godlike Players. They even started making a debate with each other – some of them even tried to challenge others due to the heated discussion.

Though, there was only a single guy who was totally quiet and not talking at all. And naturally, these gods would immediately notice that since they were quite familiar with this particular guy.

"Looks like our dear Siegfried has something in mind. Will you mind sharing it with us?" said by a Female White Elf Elementalist, making the whole room turn quiet.

Unfortunately, Arthur seemed not to hear her words as he was too immersed at watching the match. But despite being annoyed after she was ignored, the female White Elf became amused instead.

She then rested her chin on her right hand and watched Arthur while saying. "This is quite unusual of you, Siegfried. You are supposedly the loudest in this bunch yet you are acting as if you are mute and deaf – that seems odd."

The others couldn't help but nod their heads the moment they heard her words.

While their attention was attracted to Arthur, the door of the room suddenly opened followed by the entrance of a hooded swordsman with twin swords hanging on each side of his waist. And right after entering, immediately sat at the empty chair beside Arthur; that was also the only time the other gods inside the room noticed his arrival.

"It took you long enough," said Arthur without looking at the newcomer.

"There are some dogs that I need to shake off when I am on my way to the city." said the newcomer while looking at the ongoing match.

Seeing that this newcomer ignored the rest of the guys inside the room, these gods couldn't help but become a little annoyed but no one dared to voice it out – some of them might have the guts to fight against Arthur but none of them want to fight this guy since they all knew that they were still no match against him.

A moment later, they others started turning attention back to the ongoing match at the battle arena while listening to the conversation of the two.

"So, what do you think about this fight, Zero?" asked Arthur after a brief silence.

The hooded swordsman who was actually Zero, thought for a moment before answering. "Pretty even so far. Though, both of them were about to reach their limit."

"Not about that. Everyone in this room was saying the same thing. What I want to know is if you can see what these guys can't," said Arthur without removing his eyes from the match.

Hearing that, Zero raised one of his eyebrows a little while answering. "You mean that hidden setup? It looks good but that spear-wielding guy seems not getting lured by it."

As if expecting to hear that, Arthur suddenly grinned while asking another question. "So, what do you think? Who will win this fight?"

Zero threw a quick sidelong glance at Arthur, being a little suspicious at the latter's tone. Though, he still gave his reply after a brief moment of thought. "If the Nameless Swordsman fails to lure his opponent on his trap in the next two minutes, then he will surely lose this fight."

Hearing that, Arthur grinned even further before asking. "So, do you want to make a bet?"

This time, Zero finally understood Arthur's previous tone. Then he shook his head a little before saying. "What do you want to bet? Whether that Nameless Swordsman is going to last for the next 2 minutes or not? Or whether he is going to succeed with his scheme or not?"

Arthur chuckled for a moment the moment he heard that before waving his index finger while saying. "Ah-ah~! That is going to be a boring bet if we put it that way."

He trailed his words for a moment before adding. "You are going to stick with your conclusion and I will stick to mine."

"And that is?" asked Zero almost instantly.

Arthur opened his right hand, showing his five fingers while saying. "Five skills. That Nameless Swordsman right there is going to end this match on the next five skills that he is going to use."

Then he paused for a moment before asking. "What do you think?"

Zero thought for a few seconds before responding with a question of his own. "And what are at stakes?"

Arthur didn't reply immediately as he swept his gaze at the other guys inside the room observing them a little. Then he waved his right and a little while. "That is going to be in between us only."

At the same time, Zero suddenly received a private massage from Arthur. He took a quick look at it before chuckling a little later. "Are you sure about this?"

"What? Getting cold feet already?" sneered Arthur after hearing that.

On the other hand, Zero just shrugged his shoulders before agreeing. "Alright, I'll take it. I know that you are not going to take a risk if you have no confidence in it, but I will still along with you since I have nothing much to lose."

Arthur was already grinning from ear to ear the moment he heard the confirmation. Then he immediately summoned the System to form a contract while saying. "Then please sign this. I don't want you to run away after this match."

Zero chuckled once again before signing the system contract. And while he was doing all of that, the other gods inside the room started making bets for themselves in accordance with the bet of the two. Then they all looked at the ongoing battle with eyes full of anticipation.

....